Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison

I have been fascinated with The Doors music for more than 25 years when a friend of mine in school got me into them. Jim Morrison has been and continues to be a subject of deep interest and fascination for me as for countless of other Doors fans. I have read just about every book written on Jim and the band and this by far is the most accurate I believe. The authors did extensive research on Morrison and spent several years writing and perfecting this biography. This is an excellent book and makes a wonderful read not only for Doors fan but for people that enjoy reading about the excesses of rock and roll and the music industry. Jim Morrison was a man ahead of his time, extremely gifted and talented perhaps the most well read of all rock stars. He was an intellectual who possessed a brilliant mind but by the same token he was deeply misunderstood by society and by the authorities which he despised so much. Morrison was a brilliant scholar, an amazing poet, a soulful singer with a clear and very distinctive voice and a fantastic songwriter. He was a genius no doubt and his demise on July 3, 1971,in Paris is still mourned by the legions of fans that the mercurial and ecletic singer left behind. BREAK ON THROUGH:THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JIM MORRISON, is a must read for any admirer of this brilliant artist and renaissance man. The book is 544 pages long and it traces Jim's life from the beginning in Melbourne Florida where he was born to his sad and untimely death in Paris. Read this book and find out what the real Jim Morrison was all about. This book will probably shock and confuse a lot of people but it is an excellent biography of a man that 35 after his death still continues to fascinate and spark the interest of people all over the world.

..I read this book back in 1991 when it came out and reread it sporadically ever since. there is so much information here and a good analysis of Jim Morrison as a poet and a man. The book is written for true fans of Morrison only. If you want a thorough understanding of who he was and how he became an icon of the era then this is the book for you. It is a scholarly biography and well researched. I would recommend it to anybody wanting to know Jim Morrison in depth.

While the world awaits the new book on Jim Morrison by Stephen Davis, you can still take time and appreciate James Riordan's classic work on this already classic subject. Jim Morrison remains one of the great icons of rock music, his image of a brilliant, insane poet who's antics and stage presence paved the way for gothic, theatrical rock (artists like Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson and Scott Weiland all confirm the influence) is timeless and still inspiring to many. Riordan does his subject total justic with a book written with a literary flair in the words and an attention to detail that makes it vital to both the newcomer to The Doors and to Morrison followers. The portrait we are presented with at the end is of a genius driven by ideas and troubled by personal demons that probably did him in. What's fascinating is how Riordan has managed to dissect every aspect of the man. He studies in detail Morrison's tastes in surrealism, poetry and shamanism and makes comparisons between shamanistic rituals and Morrison's own stage behaviuor. And yet amongst all this the author never loses touch with what has made Morrison immortal in popular culture, the music. We get in-depth examinations of the lyrics and sound of The Doors and it's influence on artists such as Patti Smith, U2 and Alice Cooper. And Riordan never loses the sense of making the book entertaining, he writes with a novelistic touch that makes the book feel almost cinematic in it's approach, just read the first chapter, or better yet, the first page. "Break On Through" is a brilliant biography that any bookphile or rock enthusiast would enjoy. It's a captivating character study and an interesting look at the power of rock music in our age.

I have read three books on the The Doors. They are 'No-one gets out of here alive' by Sugerman, 'Riders on the storm' by John Dansmore and this one. 'Break on though' must be the best, most detailed and well-researched one of all three. I found 'No-one gets...' too dramatized of Morrison's whole history and 'Riders...' lacked facts. In a nutshell, I think this is the one that you really ought to read if you should read just one about Jim Morrison.

If there was but one biography I was able to read for the rest of my existance, I would consider this one being the one I select. I have loved The Doors and Jim Morrison for as long as I can recall, and found the practise of alternative religions and shamanism interesting long before I learnt that Jim was more than just dabbling in Shamanism, but believed he was posessed by a medicine man. Hence, this novel, with all its poetry clippings, information regarding shamanism, a somewhat more accurate portrayal of Jim, and the writer's zealous attitude regarding Jim ( it was clear the writer found Jim Morrison to be the most marvellous person to have existed), combined with the simple, factual and well written book presentation, this is one of the most passionate and beautiful biographies I have ever encountered. It is clearly meticiously researched (as is seen by the poetry excerpts scattered throughout) and obviously of huge interest to the author. Although I can't imagine it being of great interest to those not particularly interested in Jim Morrison, as there is much less emphasism on The Doors, and basically solely revolves around the chrismatic lead singer. I feel, however that it will certainly provide entertainment for most willing to see it through to the close, simply because Jim Morrison was an enigmatic and highly interesting personality. This novel centres much around the idea that Jim was a poet, and not a rock star, and while this can prove repitious, the case is presented in a way that allows us to excuse much of Jim's outward behaviour. A brilliant overview of a brilliant genius.